Selasa, Januari 31, 2012

Hayati Keunggulan Konsep Wassatiyyah

Kesederhanaan atau wasatiyyah adalah identiti agama Islam. Islam mengajar penganutnya agar mengamalkan segala suruhan dan menjauhi segala larangan tanpa sebarang tokok tambah yang menyusahkan. Dalam Islam sesuatu yang menyusahkan bukanlah sesuatu yang terbaik. Maka sebab itulah kita dianjurkan untuk segera berbuka puasa dan melewatkan pula sahurnya. Begitu juga dalam ibadah yang lain. Ini dapat kita perhatikan apabila teguran yang Nabi Muhammad s.a.w berikan kepada sekumpulan sahabat yang mahu mengekang nafsu dari berkahwin, tidak mahu berbuka apabila berpuasa dan mengharamkan diri dari memakan daging yang halal.

Baginda mengingatkan, kepada mereka, sedangkan Baginda sendiri seorang Nabi, Baginda berkahwin, berbuka apabila berpuasa dan memakan daging yang dihalalkan. Lantas Baginda memberikan penegasan bahawa sesiapa yang tidak menyukai sunnah Baginda dia bukanlah terdiri dari umat Nabi Muhammad. Wasatiyyah dalam Islam bukan terhenti sekadar pada ibadah semata-mata, tetapi juga dari sudut pemikiran, akidah dan akhlak. Kesederhanaan menjadikan Islam itu indah dan mampu menarik manusia untuk mendekatinya. Menakrifkan kesederhanaan atau wasatiyyah bukanlah mudah. Ini diakui sendiri oleh Ibnu Maskaweh yang menyatakan: “Sesungguhnya sukar menentukan pertengahan itu dan berpegang kepadanya setelah ,menetapkannya”

Wasatiyyah juga bukanlah bererti menghindari segala bentuk tindakan yang agresif. Baik bersifat persendirian mahupun berkumpulan. Peperangan bagi menuntut hak dan mengembalikan kebenaran ditempatnya adalah satu tindakan yang masih lagi dalam ruang lingkup wasatiyyah. Golongan yang tertindas apabila bangkit menentang kezaliman tidaklah dianggap sebagai golongan pelampau dalam Islam.

Menentang segala ketidakadilan dan penindasan adalah suatu tugas yang wajib dilaksanakan oleh setiap kaum muslimin. Malah membebaskan puak yang tertindas dan dizalimi amat dituntut oleh Islam. Wasatiyyah juga bukan bermaksud menerima kedua-dua pandangan yang berada pada dua hujung yang saling bertentangan. Menerima segala-galanya demi menjaga hati dan menjauhi kemarahan mana-mana pihak. 

Mencampur adukkan kebenaran dan kebatilan bukanlah ciri wasatiyyah Islam yang disarankan oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. Umat Islam perlu memelihara prinsip dengan tegas dan jangan sesekali membenarkan prinsip ajaran Islam diperkotak- katikkan dengan mudah. Inilah yang sering disalah tafsir oleh masyarakat Barat. Mereka mahukan konsep wasatiyyah selari dengan pandangan hidup yang moderat.

Mereka melabelkan sesiapa sahaja yang berpegang teguh dengan ajaran agama sebagai fundamentalis yang ekstrem. Pada mereka muslim yang moderat adalah muslim yang mengamalkan agama Islam seperti kacamata mereka terhadap agama Kristian. Kristian hanya pada nama, bukan amalan dan kepercayaan. Mereka dengan bangga menyatakan I’m a Christian, but I’m not going to the church every Sunday. Pada mereka cukuplah sekadar ada agama tapi untuk mengamalkannya jauh sekali.

Mereka dengan segera dan rakus melabelkan pejuang jihad sebagai ekstremis. Walau apa pun alasannya, jihad adalah satu keganasan. Mereka dengan penuh rasa benci menyatakan bahawa Islam adalah agama peperangan. Kalimah jihad mesti dihapuskan dari kamus ajaran Islam. Bagi mereka moderat adalah kelompok yang berfikiran terbuka dan menerima apa saja dari siapa sahaja tanpa kayu ukur kebenaran. 

Kebenaran bagi mereka bersifat relatif bukan sesuatu yang muktamad. Kebenaran diukur menerusi citarasa dan sokongan majoriti. Pada mereka pula segala pandangan yang bersumberkan kitab suci agama yang mengenepikan pilihan atau kecenderungan manusia adalah tidak moderat dan tertutup. Justeru apabila kita berbicara mengenai wasatiyyah ia adalah satu konsep yang jauh dengan terjemahan moderat dalam masyarakat barat.

Kita mesti berpegang dengan keutuhan konsep wasatiyyah yang dianjurkan oleh Islam. Konsep wasatiyyah adalah konsep yang murni bagi memelihara karamah insaniyah yang tinggi. Bagi memastikan konsep wasatiyyah ini dapat dipelihara dan diamalkan oleh masyarakat, maka satu agenda diperlukan bagi menghapuskan sebarang bentuk belenggu yang bercirikan pembodohan dan pembebalan. Ini kerana sifat bodoh dan bebal akan menjerumuskan kita ke lembah ketaksuban dan kehancuran. Ia mengingkari konsep wasatiyyah seperti yang dianjurkan oleh Islam.

Amidi Abd Manan
(Sumber: http://www.abim.org.my/component/content/article/6-laporan-aktiviti/342-pertahankan-keunggulan-konsep-wassatiyyah.html)

Isnin, Januari 30, 2012

A mighty heart


A mighty heart
By Megha Pai
Friday, January 27, 2012

Sharjah resident Abdul Mannan Jamaluddin wasn’t exactly rolling in money when he started a free school in his hometown in Bangladesh but, as he says, when your heart is set on doing good, help is never far away. Student strength today: 200 and counting…

It is perhaps much easier to be giving and charitable when you have a cool six figure in your bank balance and your next seven generations are taken care of (unless, of course, you are the progeny of Ebenezer Scrooge). But starting a free school in your hometown when you are a security guard living on a Dh1, 200 per month salary, is something to marvel about. So when we heard the story of Abdul Mannan Jamaluddin, we knew we had to meet him and hear his story.
Al Qasba is a well-to-do locality in the plush Buhaira Corniche in Sharjah. Not well-versed with the area and relying mainly on a somewhat malfunctioning GPS (at one point it instructed us to go off the road and drive into the water!), we decided to seek the help of a shopkeeper for directions to Bulbul Apartments, where Abdul is a security guard.
“Oh! You want to meet Abdul!” came the reply. Surprised as we hadn’t mentioned his name, we asked him how he guessed. “He is a bit of a local hero,” the shopkeeper smiled. “After all, how many watchmen do you know who start a free school from their savings?”
Good point. Following the much more reliable directions of the kindly shopkeeper — no need to jump into the Corniche, we were assured — we reached our destination, passing through the graffiti-riddled by-lanes. Abdul was standing at the gate, dressed in casuals, as it was his day off. He invited us to his office, which also serves as his living room and bedroom and offered us tea. A Bangla channel ran on mute on the television. On a shelf above his bed was a small stack of books in Bengali.
After some casual banter and lovely chitchat and tea, we came down to discussing Abdul’s extraordinary feat. He tells wknd. the story — from being a high school dropout to starting a free school in his native village, Belchura, in Bangladesh, where he has educated 200 children in the last six years.

As a child, I used to dream of becoming a lawyer but I wasn’t able              to continue my studies after the tenth grade as my father couldn’t afford it. After my father passed away, the burden of my entire family fell upon my shoulders. I came to the UAE in 1989 at the age of 26. The only job that I could find was as a watchman. Due to my lack of education, I was not able to move up in life. That’s when I decided that I didn’t want the same fate for my next generation.

But there was no school in my village and the new highway that was supposed to connect our village to other places, separated us from the only nearby school. Here, in the UAE, parents drop and pick up kids or there are bus services to take the kids to and fro. But it is not so in my village. The parents have no time to keep a tab on the children. The fathers go to work in the fields every morning and the mothers are busy with the housework. So the children go to the school of their own accord — if at all. Despite making several requests to the government, no provisions were made to provide learning opportunities to the village kids.
Every time I saw the excellent lives of the children here in Sharjah, I couldn’t help but wish that the children in my hometown could also have such opportunities. Education is the first step to development. So when I visited home in 2001, I decided to start a free school and I had a few months to do it in before returning to Sharjah.
Initially, my wife didn’t approve of my initiative. I had my own three children to take care of. But I didn’t let that fact deter me from starting the school. I thought to myself, if every person thought only about oneself, there would be no goodness left in the world. Besides, I have very little expenses in Sharjah and I own a small garment business back home that takes care of my family’s needs. So I decided to put in all my savings and most of my salary into the project. Now all I needed was land.
When you have set your mind on doing good, help is never too far away. One day, I happened to mention my intention to one of the village elders. He very generously offered to donate a piece of land that belonged to his family. Amazed at how easily the situation was resolved, I got cracking on building the school.
With the help of the local labourers, I managed to put up a basic building in four months and with the aid of a teacher from the local mosque, I had the school up and running. Slowly but surely, children started coming in too. Soon there were several students in the first grade. I appointed a few more teachers and everything seemed great for a month. That’s when catastrophe hit.
The elder who had donated the land hadn’t asked all the family members before making the decision. Out of spite, the family members demolished the school building and there was nothing that I could do.  I was back to square one.
It was time for me to return to the UAE. But I hadn’t given up. I took it as God’s way of testing my determination. For the next four years, I continued to save. It was not a matter of salvaging my image. My cause was bigger than that. I couldn’t fail as the future of the children was at stake.
After four years of saving and planning, when I went home in 2005, I wanted to include the entire village in the work as I knew I couldn’t do it without their help. But the moment I mentioned anything about the school, the people weren’t interested. So I had to come up with something more novel.
I invited the entire village for a feast to announce a wedding. I knew they wouldn’t say no to free food. And they would be curious to know who is getting married as there isn’t anyone of marriageable age in my family.
After the villagers had had tea and snacks, I told them that I had bought land where I intended to build the school and also told them that I didn’t expect them to contribute monetarily. However, I was surprised when a few of them offered whatever they could. Some gave money, while others gave sacks of cement, and some others simply put in hours of labour for the construction.
Before it was time for me to return to the Gulf, the ground floor of the building was ready, and the first batch of 70 students attended class at the school, called Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique ® Sunni Madrasa.
The taste of sweet success at last was like nothing else. Those who had been sceptical and discouraging, including my wife, were now beginning to realise how good this was for the community.
Since we started in 2005, we have been adding one grade to the school every year. The number of students has grown from 70 to 200. This year we begin Grade 7. My aim is to see that the school expands all the way to Grade 12. Also, I intend to buy a bus for the school so the children from the village and the surrounding villages can be fetched easily. The day we have 100 per cent literacy in my village, I will have achieved my purpose.
For now, the fact that my kids and the rest of the children in the village will never have to live the kind of life that I had to live is reward enough for me. I intend to start a trust so that the progress is maintained even after I am gone

Isnin, Januari 16, 2012

Integrasi dalam pengetahuan


Fikrah: 

Apakah yang dikatakan sebagai 'integrasi pengetahuan' (integration of knowledge)?

a) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah pada waktu persekolahan rasmi, kemudian belajar ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu petang?
b) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah dan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu persekolahan rasmi?
c) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah diserapkan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu yang sama?

Dalam sistem pendidikan KBSM hari ini, pelajaran agama Islam disisipkan dalam satu mata pelajaran yang wajib diambil oleh semua murid beragama Islam iaitu subjek 'Pendidikan Agama Islam' (PI). Subjek ini diletak dalam linear yang sama dengan subjek lain, seperti Matematik, sains, Bahasa dan lain-lain. Ini termasuk masa pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P&P yang telah ditentukan dalam sistem, iaitu 5 waktu seminggu.

Sekiranya  P&P PI telah dijalankan di sekolah, maka apa perlunya lagi murid untuk hadir ke sekolah agama petang (KAFA) untuk mempelajari lagi tentang ilmu fardhu ain? Antara sebab yang sering diterima adalah masa pembelajaran di sekolah pagi (SK) tidak mencukupi bagi membina kualiti murid dalam pengisian rohani mereka. Tidak salah sepenuhnya. (Ada betulnya juga). Yang betulnya, masa diperuntukkan untuk fardhu ain seharusnya melebihi keseluruhan ilmu fardhu kifayah atau sekurang-kurangnya menyamai keseluruhan waktu p&p tersebut. Yang salahnya, pembelajaran sebegini tidak menepati konsep integrasi pengetahuan.

Pada hari ini, umat Islam terperangkap dalam sistem sekular, iaitu sistem yang memecah-mecahkan sistem pengetahuan dan pengamalan. Harus ditegaskan, semua Ilmu adalah dari Allah. Sama ada ilmu fardhu kifayah, mahupun ilmu fardhu ain. (Ilmu tadbir alam, dan ilmu tadbir insan) Dalam ilmu tadbir alam, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mengenal Tuhan, dan begitu juga dalam ilmu tadbir insan, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mentadbir alam. Perhubungan antara kedua-duanya perlu seiring dan tidak harus dipisah-pisahkan. Ini konsep sebenar pengintegrasian pengetahuan dalam kerangka Islamisasi pengetahuan (Islamization of knowledge) 

Seorang kanak-kanak perlu melalui alam kanak-kanak, dan kurikulum untuk mereka perlu memahami fitrah manusia (nature of human being). Ini adalah sangat penting dan perlu diperbetulkan. Model kurikulum sebegini perlu dibentuk. Sememangnya perlu digali diceruk mana kurikulum yang menepati ciri ini? 

model alternatif: